This volume treats systematically the variation found in the
successive stages of the development of all ancient Greek dialects. It combines
synchronic approach, in which generative rules expound phonological divergencies
between the systems of different dialects, with a diachronic statement of
unproductive and mostly pan-Hellenic shifts.

Professor Bubeník presents
a phonetic description and structural phonemic analysis of the best-known
variant—Classical Attic of the 5th century B.C.—and displays and
contrasts the vocalic and consonantal inventories of all the other dialects
classified according to their major groups. Derivational histories of individual
dialects are examined in their juxtaposition, to ascertain which rules are shared by
various dialects and which are dialect-specific. The pandialectal framework enables
Bubeník to capture various relationships among genetically related dialects
which are missed in atomistic and static treatments, and to show more convincingly
the extent of their similarity and their systemic cohesion.

This volume makes
a significant contribution to both classical scholarship and current theory of
language change by offering new analyses of a variety of phonological and
morphophonemic problems presented by a dead language and its dialects.

Vít Bubeník is a professor emeritus of the Department of Linguistics, Memorial University.

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